External information assistant channel assessment for bluetooth adaptive frequency hopping

ABSTRACT

A system and method is provided for improving signal quality in communications among fully wireless systems including a host device in wireless communication with a primary accessory which further wirelessly communicates with a secondary accessory. The host device generates information for use by the primary accessory in determining which channels have interference and should be avoided. The information may include an adaptive frequency hopping (AFH) channel map for communications between the host and the primary device, from which the primary device can infer which frequency bands have interference and generate a second AFH map for communications between the primary accessory and the secondary accessory accordingly. In other examples the information includes the second AFH map generated by the host, for example, based on an out-of-band scan. In further examples, the information includes an indication of channels used by recognized nearby access points.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a national phase entry under 35 U.S.C. § 371 ofInternational Application No. PCT/US2019/060928, filed Nov. 12, 2019,the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

Bluetooth® (BT) technology uses channel hopping to avoid interferencefrom other BT devices and other radios such as WiFi® and other wirelesscommunication in the 2.4 GHz frequency band. A first device wirelesspaired with a second device over a BT connection usually will listen onthe channels which are not in an actively used channel set for theconnection to decide whether there is some interference on thosespecific channels. However this approach will consume more system power,because a BT radio of the first device needs to be turned on when noscheduled packet is expected.

Some devices use a very simple adaptive frequency hopping (AFH) channelassessment algorithm. Such devices cannot do idle channel qualityassessment due to hardware limitations. Rather, these devices randomlyselect channels back to the AFH channel pool, even if some channels areunder the influence of environmental interference or have otherwiseinsufficient quality for exchanging BT packets reliably.

One known method of AFH channel assessment is to only assess a packeterror rate (PER) in the active channels. If PER on a given channel ishigher than a threshold, the given channel will be classified as a badchannel. Bad channels will be removed from an active channel map in anext AFH channel map update and put into a bad channel pool. When atotal number of usable channels in the channel map channel assessment isless than 20 channels, a random channel from the bad channel pool willbe selected and restored for use as a good channel. Since channelquality of the selected channel from the bad channel pool is notassessed, the selected channel may be jammed by other interference. Inother words, the channel selection performance is unpredictable.

Another known method also only assesses PER in the active channels. IfPER on a channel is higher than a threshold, the channel will beclassified as bad channel and will be removed from active channel map inthe next AFH channel map update. Channels that haven't been used in thepast X seconds will be restored to the channel map without any furtherassessment. As such, the channel quality assessment criteria is onlytime, as opposed to the real channel quality itself. If after X seconds,the interference is still there, taking back those channels to use willhave high potential to cause BT packet loss.

According to another known method, the BT radio of the device listens toevery unused channel for channel quality assessment at predefinedintervals to get more accurate channel interference assessment. Thismethod consumes a significant amount of power.

BRIEF SUMMARY

The present disclosure provides a system and method for usinginformation from a first wireless connection to mitigate interference ona second wireless connection.

One aspect of the disclosure provides method of generating a channel mapfor communication between accessories in a fully wireless system, themethod including receiving, at a primary accessory, information from ahost device, the information relating to communications between the hostdevice and at least one second device. The method further includesdetermining, with one or more processors at the primary accessory, basedon the received information, communication channels to avoid forcommunications between the primary accessory and a secondary accessory,generating, with the one or more processors, a communication channel mapbased on the determined communication channels to avoid, and providing,by the primary accessory, the communication channel map to the secondaryaccessory.

Another aspect of the disclosure provides a wireless accessoryconfigured to operate as a primary wireless accessory. The wirelessaccessory includes one or more transceivers for communicating with atleast a host device and a secondary wireless accessory, and one or moreprocessors configured to receive information from the host device, theinformation relating to communications between the host device and atleast one second device, determine, based on the received information,communication channels to avoid for communications between the primaryaccessory and a secondary accessory, generate a communication channelmap based on the determined communication channels to avoid, and providethe communication channel map to the secondary accessory.

Yet another aspect of the disclosure provides a host device configuredto wirelessly communicate with a primary wireless accessory. The hostdevice includes one or more transceivers for communicating with theprimary wireless accessory using a first protocol and with at least onesecond device using a second protocol, and one or more processors incommunication with the transceivers. The one or more processors areconfigured to determine communication channels for the second protocolthat will cause interference with the first protocol, generateinformation for the primary accessory, the information relating to thedetermined communication channels, for avoidance of the determinedcommunication channels for communications between the primary accessoryand a secondary accessory, and provide the information to the primaryaccessory.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an example fully wireless system in accordance withaspects of the disclosure.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example wireless interference channel mapaccording to aspects of the disclosure.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of generating adaptive frequency hopping(AFH) channel map by a primary accessory according to aspects of thedisclosure.

FIG. 4 illustrates another example of generating an AFH channel map by aprimary accessory according to aspects of the disclosure.

FIG. 5 illustrates another example of generating an AFH channel map by aprimary accessory according to aspects of the disclosure.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of an example primary accessory in a fullywireless system according to aspects of the disclosure.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram illustrating an example method according toaspects of the disclosure.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram illustrating another example method accordingto aspects of the disclosure.

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram illustrating another example method accordingto aspects of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a fully wireless system 100, includingtwo piconets 110, 120. First piconet 110 includes a host device 150 anda primary accessory 180. Second piconet 120 includes the primaryaccessory 180 and secondary accessory 190. The host device 150 may be,for example, a phone, tablet, gaming system, or any of a variety ofother types of computing devices capable of wireless communication withanother device. The primary and secondary accessories 180, 190 may be asame type of device as one another, such as earbuds, audio devices for atrue wireless system headset, video displays, speakers, etc. Accordingto other examples, the primary accessory 180 may be a first type ofdevice while the secondary accessory 190 is a second type. For example,the primary accessory 180 may be a smartwatch, headset, virtual realitydisplay, home assistant, etc., while the secondary accessory 190 may bean audio device, smartglasses, etc. While several examples of wirelessaccessories are described, it should be understood that each of theprimary and secondary accessories 180, 190 may be any type of wirelessdevice.

The host 150 and the primary accessory 180 are wirelessly coupled, forexample, via Bluetooth or other wireless pairing or communication link.In the first piconet 110, the host 150 serves as the master and theprimary accessory 180 serves as the slave. For example, the host 150 maytransmit audio, video, data, or other types of packets to the primaryaccessory 180. In this regard, the host device 150 is responsible forproviding the channel map for the primary accessory 180 to follow. Forexample, the host 150 and primary accessory 180 may utilize adaptivefrequency hopping (AFH) in their communication. As such, the host 150would provide the AFH channel map for the primary accessory 180 tofollow.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example channel map 200. The channel map of thisexample is a WiFi channel map in the 2.4 GHz band. WiFi access pointsoperating in 2.4 GHz typically use channel 1, channel 6, or channel 11.When a particular WiFi channel is in use, it may create interference fora Bluetooth connection in the same frequency range. Accordingly, devicescommunicating over Bluetooth may avoid WiFi channels that are in use.For example, if the host device 150 of FIG. 1 is communicating over WiFichannel 1, it may only utilize frequencies of 2.425 GHz and above forBluetooth communication with the primary accessory 180.

Returning to FIG. 1, in response to receiving packets from the host 150,the primary accessory 180 may in turn may output content from thepackets received from the host 150, and may further relay the packets tosecondary accessory 190. The primary accessory 180 and the secondaryaccessory 190 are wirelessly coupled in the second piconet 120, such asby a Bluetooth connection or other wireless connection separate from theconnection of the first piconet 110. In the second piconet 120, theprimary accessory 180 serves as the master with respect to the secondaryaccessory 190, and the secondary accessory 190 serves as the slave.Accordingly, the primary accessory 180 is responsible for generating thechannel map for use in the second piconet 120.

In this topology, the primary accessory 180 is in a scatternetsituation, because it operates as the slave in the first piconet 110 andthe master in second piconet 120. As the slave in the first piconet 110,the primary accessory 180 follows the host device 150 for the AFHchannel map. As the master in the second piconet 120, the primaryaccessory 180 defines the AFH channel map and sends it over to thesecondary accessory 190 to follow.

Smaller accessories, such as earbuds, have very little room for internalelectronics, such as processors, batteries, circuitry, etc. Therefore,such smaller accessories may be limited in particular functions, such aschannel quality assessment. Host devices, such as mobile phones forexample, are typically larger in size than the accessories, and may havelarger batteries and more powerful processors. Therefore, the hostdevice 150 may be configured with superior capability for channelassessment, as compared with the accessories 180, 190. As such, theprimary accessory 180 may generate the channel map for the secondpiconet 120 using information received from the host 150.

FIG. 3 illustrates a first method in which the primary accessory 180 maygenerate a channel map for use in the second piconet 120. In operation,the host device 150 and the primary accessory 180 may be close enough toeach other that an interference channel observed by the host device 150in the first piconet 110 should be similar to the interference channelthat the primary accessory 180 is experiencing in the second piconet120. The primary accessory 180 may observe first AFH channel map 310used by the host device 150 in the first piconet 110. Using the firstAFH channel map 310, the primary accessory 180 may indirectly determinewhether interference exists on one or more particular channels. Forexample, as shown in FIG. 3, the first AFH map 310 includes a pluralityof scheduled transmissions 312 at different frequencies over time.However, there are no transmissions 312 scheduled in the frequency rangebetween 2.4 GHz and 2.425 GHz. Accordingly, the primary accessory 180can infer that there is interference in that range, such as from thehost device 150 utilizing WiFi channel 1 (FIG. 2).

The primary accessory 180 can avoid using the one or more particularchannels in the second piconet 120 if the one or more particularchannels are experiencing interference in the first piconet 110. Forexample, the primary accessory 180 can generate second AFH channel map320 for use in the second piconet 120. Similar to the first AFH channelmap 310, the second AFH map 320 includes a plurality of scheduledtransmissions 322 at different frequencies at different times. Becausethe primary accessory 180 inferred from the first AFH map 310 that thereis interference between 2.400-2.425 GHz, the primary accessory 180 doesnot schedule transmissions over that frequency range in the second AFHmap 320.

This method may be utilized in a variety of true wireless systemarchitectures. For example, it may be effective in relay-based,snoop-based, relay-plus-snoop mixed mode based, or other potentialarchitectures. In the snoop-based architecture, since the secondaryaccessory is sniffing, it will use the same AFH map as the primaryaccessory.

The primary accessory 180 may periodically assess channel quality, andif necessary, generate a new channel map. When the primary accessory 180is performing channel quality assessment to form a new channel map, itshould use the latest AFH channel map from the first piconet 110 todetermine potential interference.

FIG. 4 illustrates another method for improving AFH channel assessment.The primary accessory 180 asks the host device 150 to calculate thechannel map. For example, the primary accessory 180 can ask the hostdevice 150 to more aggressively scan for out-of-connection channelassessment and report back its results.

The request, indicated by arrow (1) in FIG. 4, may be a signal or packetwith one or more bits indicating that the primary accessory 180 isrequesting a channel assessment. According to other examples, therequest may be more complex. For example, the request may specify thatit is seeking a report for a particular channel, or the request mayspecify other information. The request may be sent at predeterminedintervals, or any time the primary accessory 180 should update its AFHchannel map. For example, the primary accessory 180 may send the requestto the host 150 when signal quality in the second piconet 120 fallsbelow a predetermined threshold.

In response to the request, the host 150 may perform a channelassessment and transmit a report, indicated by arrow (2), back to theprimary accessory 180. The assessment may include, for example, a scanof out-of-band channels to determine which channels are available andwhich channels have interference. The report may take a variety offorms. For example, the report may be a listing of channels along with acorresponding signal quality for each channel. As another example, thereport may take the form of channel map 410. For example, the map 410may list available channels, and omit channels that have interference,such as channel 1. The channel assessment may be performed using thehost device's Bluetooth controller or a separate piece of hardware.

Once the primary accessory 180 receives the channel assessment report,it may generate AFH channel map 420 based on the information.Accordingly, the primary accessory 180 may use the AFH channel map 420for communication in the second piconet 120. This offloads powerconsumption from the primary accessory to the host device.

FIG. 5 illustrates yet another example of improving AFH channelassessment, wherein information from the host device 150 is used toprovide an indication to the primary accessory 180 regarding whichchannels are good or had. For example, WiFi access points (APs) 502, 504communicate with the host device 150. The APs 502, 504 may have fixedpositions in the environment and fixed channels after deployment. Forexample, as shown, the AP 502 utilizes WiFi channel 1, while the AP 504utilized the WiFi channel 6. The host device 150 may communicateinformation regarding the APs 502, 504 to the primary accessory 180. Forexample, such information may include an AP identifier, location,channel in use, etc.

A traffic load on one or both of the APs 502, 504 can change, which willhave an impact on the channel map assessment. However, if theaccessories have enough “good” channels to use outside of the fixed andknown AP channels, the accessories can block those channels. Forexample, the primary accessory 180 may generate an AFH map 520 thatavoids transmissions 522 on frequency ranges that coincide with WiFichannel 1 and WiFi channel 6 since those are in use by the APs 502, 504to which the host 150 is attached. This avoids potential harm to theBluetooth traffic when the WiFi traffic suddenly comes up duringBluetooth device communication.

According to yet another method, a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) channelmap may be used to increase the channel assessment opportunity whenusing the channel assessment method of only using active channel forchannel quality evaluation. For example, the same primary device cancommunicate with host device through both Bluetooth and BLE. Bluetoothand BLE traffic share the air medium. By using traffic on both links todo channel assessment, there is an increased opportunity to assess thechannel quality as compared to using one type of traffic.

In some systems, a combination of some or all of the methods describedabove can be used together to enhance overall system performance. Forexample, the primary accessory 180 may use various different types ofinformation from the host device 150 to determine channels that likelyhave interference and to avoid such channels in generating an AFH mapfor use in the second piconet 120.

FIG. 6 provides an example block diagram of the primary accessory 180and the host device 150. The primary accessory 180 can be any of varioustypes of wireless devices, such as earbuds, head-mounted devices,smartwatches, etc., that is configured to communicate with both the hostdevice 150 and a secondary accessory. The primary accessory 180 includesone or more processors 381, memory 382, and other components typicallypresent in audio playback devices and auxiliary devices. While a numberof components are shown, it should be understood that such componentsare merely non-limiting examples, and that other components mayadditionally or alternatively be included.

The one or more processors 381 may be any conventional processors, suchas commercially available microprocessors. Alternatively, the one ormore processors may be a dedicated device such as an applicationspecific integrated circuit (ASIC) or other hardware-based processor.Although FIG. 6 functionally illustrates the processor, memory, andother elements of wireless accessory 180 as being within the samerespective blocks, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill inthe art that the processor or memory may actually include multipleprocessors or memories that may or may not be stored within the samephysical housing. Similarly, the memory may be a hard drive or otherstorage media located in a housing different from that of the accessorydevice 180. Accordingly, references to a processor or computing devicewill be understood to include references to a collection of processorsor computing devices or memories that may or may not operate inparallel.

Memory 382 may store information that is accessible by the processors381, including instructions 383 that may be executed by the processors381, and data 384. The memory 382 may be of a type of memory operativeto store information accessible by the processors 381, including anon-transitory computer-readable medium, or other medium that storesdata that may be read with the aid of an electronic device, such as ahard-drive, memory card, read-only memory (“ROM”), random access memory(“RAM”), optical disks, as well as other write-capable and read-onlymemories. The subject matter disclosed herein may include differentcombinations of the foregoing, whereby different portions of theinstructions 383 and data 384 are stored on different types of media.

Data 384 may be retrieved, stored or modified by processors 381 inaccordance with the instructions 383. For instance, although the presentdisclosure is not limited by a particular data structure, the data 384may be stored in computer registers, in a relational database as a tablehaving a plurality of different fields and records, XML documents, orflat files. The data 384 may also be formatted in a computer-readableformat such as, but not limited to, binary values, ASCII or Unicode. Byfurther way of example only, the data 384 may be stored as bitmapscomprised of pixels that are stored in compressed or uncompressed, orvarious image formats (e.g., JPEG), vector-based formats (e.g., SVG) orcomputer instructions for drawing graphics. Moreover, the data 384 maycomprise information sufficient to identify the relevant information,such as numbers, descriptive text, proprietary codes, pointers,references to data stored in other memories (including other networklocations) or information that is used by a function to calculate therelevant data.

The instructions 383 may be executed to receive information from thehost 150, determine available communications based on the informationfrom the host, and generate a channel map for use in the second piconetbased on the determined available channels.

The host device 150 may also include a processor 351 and memory 352,including instructions 353 executable by the processor 351 and data 354.The memory 352 may be any of a variety of types, and the data 354 may beany of a variety of formats, similar to the memory 382 and data 384 ofthe primary accessory 180. The instructions 353 may provide for sendinginformation to the primary accessory 180. For example, such informationmay include an AFH channel map, as a host would typically send to aprimary accessory in a fully wireless system. According to otherexamples, such information may include additional information collected,such as at the request of the primary accessory 180, such as a report ofan out-of-band channel scan, or information regarding access pointswhich the host 150 sees or is connected to. While the example of FIG. 3illustrates a particular set of operations in each set of instructions,it should be understood that either device may be capable of executingadditional or other instructions.

Each of the primary accessory 180 and the host 150 may include othercomponents typically found in such devices, such astransmitter/receivers 356, 386, output 357, 387 such as displays,speakers, tactile feedback, etc., input such as microphone 388 or otherinput, etc. It should be understood that the primary accessory 180 andhost device 150 may each include other components which are not shownbut may be utilized in execution of the instructions 383, 353. Forexample, the host 150 may include hardware for scanning availablechannels and reporting to the primary accessory 180.

In addition to the operations described above and illustrated in thefigures, various operations will now be described. It should beunderstood that the following operations do not have to be performed inthe precise order described below. Rather, various steps can be handledin a different order or simultaneously, and steps may also be added oromitted.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example method 700 for efficient generation of achannel map by a primary accessory in a fully wireless system, similarto the example illustrated in FIG. 3. In block 710, the primaryaccessory receives, from the host, an AFH channel map for a firstpiconet in which the host serves as the master and the primary accessoryserves as the slave.

In block 720, the primary accessory determines, based on the receivedchannel map for the first piconet, which channels have interference thatmay affect communications in a second piconet where the primaryaccessory is the master and a secondary accessory is the slave. Forexample, the primary accessory may recognize that the received channelmap omits a particular range of frequencies, and instead only schedulescommunications on other frequency ranges. The primary accessory maytherefore infer that the omitted range of frequencies has interferencethat was detected by the host. For example, such interference mayinclude a WiFi channel on which the host is communicating.

In block 730, the primary accessory generates a channel map for thesecond piconet based on the determined interference channels. Forexample, the channel map may be an AFH channel map which omits the samefrequency range that was omitted in the map received from the host. Themap may be generated using further information known to the primaryaccessory as well. In block 740, the primary accessory sends the channelmap to the secondary accessory for communication in the second piconet.

FIG. 8 illustrates another method 800, such as that described above inconnection with FIG. 4. According to this method 800, the primaryaccessory sends a request (block 810) to the host for a channel map forthe second piconet. In this regard, the primary accessory transfersresponsibility for generating the map to the host device, which has moreprocessing and power capabilities. As such, the primary accessory savesits own battery and processing power.

In block 820, the host performs a channel assessment, such as anout-of-band scan for interference that may affect the communicationsbetween the primary accessory and the secondary accessory in the secondpiconet. The assessment may detect available channels, channels withinterference, or other conditions that may produce interference onparticular channels.

In block 830, the host reports the results of the channel assessment tothe primary accessory. For example, the host may send to the primaryaccessory a list of available channels, a list of channels on which theprimary accessory may experience interference, or a list of all channelswith corresponding information indicating whether or not interferencemay exist. In block 840, the primary accessory generates a channel mapfor the second piconet based on the report received from the host.

FIG. 9 illustrates yet another example method 900, corresponding to theillustration of FIG. 5, where generating the map for the second piconettakes into consideration other information from the host, such as nearbyAP information.

In block 910, the host detects one or more available APs. For example,the host may detect one or more nearby APs and detect channels on whichthe nearby APs are transmitting. The host device may be connected to theAPs, such that it uses the APs to wirelessly transmit or receiveinformation over a network, such as the Internet. According to otherexamples, the host device may merely recognize the nearby APs withoutattaching.

In block 920, the host device provides information regarding thedetected APs to the primary accessory. For example, the host device mayprovide a list of detected APs or a list of communication channels onwhich the detected APs are deployed. According to some examples, theinformation may include further details, such as identifiers of the APs,location of the APs, signal strength between the APs and the host, etc.

In block 930, the primary accessory receives the information regardingthe APs. In block 940, the primary accessory determines channels toavoid based on the AP information. For example, the primary accessorymay determine to avoid all channels on which the detected APs aredeployed, to prevent potential interference. According to otherexamples, the primary accessory may avoid only selected APs, such asthose serving a greatest amount of traffic, those with the greatestsignal strength, etc. Whether to avoid some or all of the AP channelsmay depend, for example, on how many APs are detected or how manychannels in Bluetooth communication range are occupied by the APs. Inblock 950, the primary accessory generates a channel map for the secondpiconet based on the determined channels to be avoided.

While a number of different methods have been described above, it shouldbe understood that a combination of some or all of these methods may beused together to efficiently generate a channel map for communicationsbetween a primary accessory and a secondary accessory in a fullywireless system.

The foregoing techniques may be advantageous in that they provide forefficiently generating channel maps for use between fully wirelessaccessories. Resources, such as power and processing capabilities, maybe conserved by making inferences based on information received from thehost. In some examples, responsibilities may be shifted from the primaryaccessory to the host, thereby shifting consumption of the resources.

While the foregoing examples were primarily described with respect toavoiding interference between WiFi channels and Bluetoothcommunications, it should be understood that the concepts may be appliedto any of a variety of communication protocols which may causeinterference with one another.

Unless otherwise stated, the foregoing alternative examples are notmutually exclusive, but may be implemented in various combinations toachieve unique advantages. As these and other variations andcombinations of the features discussed above can be utilized withoutdeparting from the subject matter defined by the claims, the foregoingdescription of the embodiments should be taken by way of illustrationrather than by way of limitation of the subject matter defined by theclaims. In addition, the provision of the examples described herein, aswell as clauses phrased as “such as,” “including” and the like, shouldnot be interpreted as limiting the subject matter of the claims to thespecific examples; rather, the examples are intended to illustrate onlyone of many possible embodiments. Further, the same reference numbers indifferent drawings can identify the same or similar elements.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method of generating a channel map forcommunication between accessories in a fully wireless system, the methodcomprising: receiving, at a primary accessory, information from a hostdevice, the information relating to communications between the hostdevice and at least one second device; determining, with one or moreprocessors at the primary accessory, based on the received information,communication channels to avoid for communications between the primaryaccessory and a secondary accessory; generating, with the one or moreprocessors, a communication channel map based on the determinedcommunication channels to avoid; and providing, by the primaryaccessory, the communication channel map to the secondary accessory. 2.The method of claim 1, wherein the information received from the hostdevices comprises a first adaptive frequency hopping (AFH) channel mapfor communications between the host device and the primary accessory. 3.The method of claim 2, wherein determining the communication channels toavoid comprises identifying a range of frequencies for which there areno scheduled transmissions in the first AFH channel map.
 4. The methodof claim 1, further comprising requesting, by the primary accessory, achannel assessment by the host device.
 5. The method of claim 4, whereinthe information received from the host device includes a report of thechannel assessment.
 6. The method of claim 4, wherein the informationreceived from the host device comprises a second adaptive frequencyhopping (AFH) channel map, generated by the host device based on thechannel assessment, for communications between the primary accessory andthe secondary accessory.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein theinformation comprises an indication of one or more channels on whichaccess points detected by the host device are deployed.
 8. The method ofclaim 7, wherein the information further comprises an indication ofsignal strength for each of the access points.
 9. The method of claim 7,wherein determining the communication channels to avoid comprisesdetermining the channels on which the detected access points aredeployed.
 10. A wireless accessory configured to operate as a primarywireless accessory, comprising: one or more transceivers forcommunicating with at least a host device and a secondary wirelessaccessory; one or more processors configured to: receive informationfrom the host device, the information relating to communications betweenthe host device and at least one second device; determine, based on thereceived information, communication channels to avoid for communicationsbetween the primary accessory and a secondary accessory; generate acommunication channel map based on the determined communication channelsto avoid; and provide the communication channel map to the secondaryaccessory.
 11. The accessory of claim 10, wherein the informationreceived from the host devices comprises a first adaptive frequencyhopping (AFH) channel map for communications between the host device andthe primary accessory.
 12. The accessory of claim 11, whereindetermining the communication channels to avoid comprises identifying arange of frequencies for which there are no scheduled transmissions inthe first AFH channel map.
 13. The accessory of claim 10, furthercomprising requesting, by the primary accessory, a channel assessment bythe host device.
 14. The accessory of claim 13, wherein the informationreceived from the host device includes a report of the channelassessment.
 15. The accessory of claim 13, wherein the informationreceived from the host device comprises a second adaptive frequencyhopping (AFH) channel map, generated by the host device based on thechannel assessment, for communications between the primary accessory andthe secondary accessory.
 16. The accessory of claim 10, wherein theinformation comprises an indication of one or more channels on whichaccess points detected by the host device are deployed.
 17. Theaccessory of claim 16, wherein the information further comprises anindication of signal strength for each of the access points.
 18. Theaccessory of claim 16, wherein determining the communication channels toavoid comprises determining the channels on which the detected accesspoints are deployed.
 19. A host device configured to wirelesslycommunicate with a primary wireless accessory, the host devicecomprising: one or more transceivers for communicating with the primarywireless accessory using a first protocol and with at least one seconddevice using a second protocol; one or more processors configured to:determine communication channels for the second protocol that will causeinterference with the first protocol; generate information for theprimary accessory, the information relating to the determinedcommunication channels, for avoidance of the determined communicationchannels for communications between the primary accessory and asecondary accessory; and provide the information to the primaryaccessory.
 20. The host device of claim 19, wherein generating theinformation comprises generating a communication channel map based onthe determined communication channels.
 21. The host device of claim 19,wherein determining the communication channels for the second protocolthat will cause interference comprises performing an out-of-bandcommunication scan.